Well the Amtrak "City of New Orleans" is no picnic. It keeps having accidents as it passes through Mississippi.
Jim Bentley American Celiac Society New Orleans LA 70123 [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: 1-504-737-3293 --- On Thu, 8/14/08, Wills, Steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Wills, Steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: Transportation to October conference - take Amtrak! > To: "RBASE-L Mailing List" <[email protected]> > Date: Thursday, August 14, 2008, 12:50 PM > A long time ago, specifically, Friday afternoon, December > 20, 1957, the day Boeing first publicly demonstrated the 707 > liner, the management of the railroads should have begun to > view themselves as being in the transportation business, > rather than the railroad business. Had they done so, along > with some "Delta-T" thinking (what will be > different over a change in time, such as crowded, > low-service, high-priced air travel and rising fuel prices), > things might be a lot different and possibly better than > they are now, with regard to our viable choices for > long(-er) distance transportation. > > > > However, this type of industry, at this scale, crossing > state and other geo-political boundaries, doesn't exist > in a vacuum. It has historically involved, for better or > worse (depending on how a reader's political opinions > filter their inputs and mental processes) some form of > governmental action. Well, based on what we've seen, > good and bad, in the various segments of the aviation > industry since WWII, from the involvement of our > governmental decision-makers, I couldn't really hazard a > guess as to how different things might look. > > > > Before anyone thinks I'm a naïve Libertarian or > anti-government radical, I would just offer this reminder: > we elect those folks ... > > > > My slightly off-topic synopsis of this on-topic thread, > > Steve in Memphis ... > > > > ... where the "decision-makers" with the City of > Memphis and the "management" of the Canadian > Pacific have been battling for many, many weeks over > who's responsible for the repair of a sinkhole caused by > the collapse of a 100-year-old cistern, disrupting local > service by Amtrak's City of New Orleans, which runs from > Chicago to The Big Easy. > > > > If you'll please pardon me for even putting the > abbreviation on this board, it's just SSDD. > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:40am 11:40 > To: RBASE-L Mailing List > Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: Transportation to October > conference - take Amtrak! > > > > Holy Moly!!! That's just horrible! Something to > think about, for sure ... Jan's airplane invitation > sounds much better (there is a small airport about 10 > minutes from me) > > I agree -- both times I was in Ireland I took their trains > everywhere. Incredibly reliable. The US has a ways to go > to catch up (soapbox on: the result of cheap gas: soapbox > off) > > Karen > > > > > > Only a side note about AmTrack. I have taken it skiing to > Colorado and on two other shorter trips. > On the trip to Colorado, the train arrived 6 hours late. > On the way back it arrived 13 hours late! No break downs nor > blizzards nor other unexpected catastrophe. Just waiting for > freight trains to pass! > > On two short trips (scheduled 3.5 hours), both were over 1 > hour late. > > Amtrak does not own the rails and has to pull over and wait > for any freight trains to pass. Other than the horrible on > time record, it was not a bad ride. Perhaps going East will > be better? Having visited Germany this year, I was quite > impressed with thier train system. If Amtrack could > maintain a decent on time schedule such as in Germany, > people would use them more! > > -Bob
